Contents

1. The Hawk’s Eye……………………………………….3

An introduction to the Indian Television
Industry
2. And the Winner is?...........................4
A status report on the milestones
achieved so far
3. So we have a Problem!......................6
Unanticipated issues that the Indian
Television Industry has faced/ might face
4. The Way to Tread……………………………………7
The proposed plan ahead for the Indian
Television Industry
5. Zip-up………………………………………………………8
Summarization of the present and future
status
Information Sources.……………………………………9

GOURAB KUNDU THE INDIAN TELEVISION INDUSTRY PAGE 2

 1. The Hawk’s Eye
One in every two households in India owns a television
set. This figure is staggering considering the fact that three One in every two
out of every four Indian earns less than twenty rupees a day. households in India
Astounding! There is more… from just one channel being
telecast in India during the 1980‟s, today the figure has risen owns a television
exponentially to over three hundred and fifty satellite
channels, and many such channels are awaiting the approval
set, when, three
of the Ministry of Information and broadcasting, Government out of every four
of India. [6]
Indian earns less
With umpteen channels and the ever rising audience base,
the television industry is „in‟ big time. Television than twenty rupees
transcends demographic, geographic, cultural and social
barriers with absolute finesse. It has become perhaps the
a day.
best mode to unify the diversity in India. Channels are
specifically designed targeting certain segments of the
Indian population. With such a huge population to play with,
the industry „walas’ are laughing all the way to the banks.

Could you have ever imagined that a channel would be aired

on television just to help you shop on the move? Well, these
channels have become banal these days. And if industry
insiders are to believed, this is just the beginning, the Indian
Television Industry has many such offerings. India has been
segmented according to various factors (demographic,
geographic, psychographic, etc) and every segment has
unique offering being made by one or more channels. Niche
television may be a novel concept but it is there to stay!

They say innovation is the name of the game. Technological

advances have propelled Indian television to heights unheard
of. The inflow of foreign investments and the entry of
private players have not only upped the ante in terms of
competition but also made the advancement of the
technical knowhow of television lucid. Gone are the days of
Technological
monopoly of “Doordarshan”, the Government owned advances have
television channel. The private channels with much better
technological advances are slowly catching up with the “big propelled Indian
daddy”.
television to
If estimates are to be believed, by 2013 all homes in India heights unheard of.
will have access to cable television. So the viewers can
anticipate better quality at even better prices. [4]

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 2. And the Winner is?
As it is the price of viewing television in India is lesser than
that in most parts of the world. [6] The fact that 40 per cent The quantum of
households of India are still without television connectivity advertisements on
highlights the scope of growth in the segment. The number
of potential viewers of television set to increase in the Indian television
coming years, thus, the price of watching TV will only be on
the downslide. The penetration of television in rural India
has increased by
also helps in increasing this scope. 23% during Jan-Jul
The upside of television being so “user savvy” is the huge 2009
influx of advertisements that are aired on television from
time to time. As per the recent Adex India data, the
quantum of advertisements on Indian television has increased
by 23% during Jan-Jun 2009 when compared to the same
period last year. The Food and beverage sector is the largest
advertiser, while Hindustan Unilever Limited has aired the
largest number of advertisements for its various products.

Adex also reveals that during the same period, the “Social
Advertisements” category has flooded TV sets for the largest
period of time. Hence, television is perhaps the most potent
forum to air social messages.

Television in India is operated using the following players:

 Terrestrial Network
 Cable Network
 DTH (Direct to Home) Satellite Network
 IPTV (Internet Protocol Television)
According to FICCI
 Mobile Television and KPMG, the
Digital distribution platforms such as direct-to-home (DTH) television industry,
and Mobile TV are transforming the industry. Mobile TV—
where content will stream in on mobile phones—which is
which is currently
currently at a nascent stage is poised to grow big with the valued at about
advent of 3G, according to experts.
US$ 4.63 billion
According to the study by FICCI and KPMG, the television will expand by
industry, which is currently valued at about US$ 4.63 billion
will expand by 14.5 per cent between 2009 and 2013. 14.5 per cent
The revenue drivers for the Television Industry are:
between 2009 and
Subscription revenues are projected to be the key growth 2013.
driver for the Indian television industry over the next five

GOURAB KUNDU THE INDIAN TELEVISION INDUSTRY PAGE 4

years. Subscription revenues will increase both from the Viewership across
number of pay TV homes as well as increased subscription
rates. The buoyancy of the Indian economy will drive the various segments is
homes, both in rural and urban areas to buy televisions and
subscribe for the pay services. New distribution platforms like
increasing and
DTH and IPTV will only increase the subscriber base and push marketers are
up the subscription revenues.
launching new
Revenue accrued from advertisements will also have a channels to meet
substantial bearing on the growth of Indian television.
this growing
Viewership across various segments is increasing and marketers
are launching new channels to meet this growing demand. demand.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) into the sector surged to $211
million (Rs 854.55 crore), against $89.18 million in 2006. [7] The
industry experts foresee FDI continuing to go up in the coming
years. The year 2007-08 was marked by the entry of media and
entertainment conglomerates—Viacom Inc., NBC Universal Inc.
and Walt Disney Co.—into India through partnerships with
Network 18 Group, NDTV Networks Plc. and UTV Software
Communications Ltd, respectively. Turner and Warner Bros
Entertainment, Hollywood's leading studio have launched WB, a
new Warner-branded channel in India that will showcase
blockbuster motion pictures and acclaimed television series.

The General Entertainment Channels (Hindi) have shown a

sharp increase in number from three in 2004 to ten this year.
Colors, a GEC launched by Viacom 18, have catapulted all
expectations to become the number one GEC in India within IRS 2009 Jan-Jun
nine months of its inception. To quote Ashwini Yardi,
Programming Head, Colors, “Content is the King, our content
shows a decline in
was the only factor in making Colors the number one channel viewership of the
in India.” The competition for the GEC Hindi is real intense
with a three way fight between Colors (Viacom 18), Star Plus national network
(Star India) and Zee TV (Zee Telefilms). DD1, while
The television viewership data of IRS 2009 Jan-Jun shows a viewership of
decline in viewership of the national network DD1, while
viewership of every other private channel has shown a positive every other
growth. As per the data, the viewership of DD1 went down by private channel
4.81 per cent, as compared to IRS 2008 Jul-Dec at 167.89
million viewers. However the national network stood way has shown a
ahead of the next in line channels. [9]
positive growth.

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 3. So we have a Problem!
Whilst it is all fine to shower accolades on the „star‟ product that Often, extreme
television is, there is no denial that a lot of un-catered to ends
need to be tightened.
violence, skin show
At the forefront is the issue of „censorship‟. Even after such a lot
and licentious
of technological advancement in television, the governing bodies conduct aired
could still not come up with a clear cut protocol to impose
censorship on content that is aired on Indian television. While blithely on
most Indian broadcasters (including the private broadcasters who
uplink from the outside) do adhere to indigenously developed
television go
codes of programming conduct, there is a singular lack of a unreported due to
governing body that could monitor programming, check lapses and
report erring broadcasters. In the absence of such filters, no defined
programming is mostly at the will of broadcasters. Often, extreme Censorship laws.
violence, skin show and licentious conduct aired blithely on
television go unreported. Industry insiders insist that though the
censor laws are uniform, a lot of film producers and music video
makers obtain censor certificates from South India. [2]

The NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) has taken up the

censorship issue with the Information and Broadcasting Ministry
many-a-times. The association has also sought for self-regulation
of content to the utmost level meeting the societal standards of
India. The present I&B minister Ambika Soni is quoted to have
said that she has no intention of imposing any kind of censorship
on the media. [5] Soni said that the times have changed, and
together, the Government and the industry need to tackle the
issue of deciding what is the „acceptable‟ content on television.

Another issue is the implementation of CAS (Conditional Access

System). CAS was made compulsory by the Government of India in
2003. Apparently some problems were encountered in the smooth
implementation of CAS. Resistance came from both the sides of
the cable operators and the channels. While the channels feared The Government
that they would be losing out of their „bouquet‟ of channels,
since, most channels were clubbed under some large bouquet.
had to mellow its
Star Den for Star India channels, Zee Turner for Zee Channels, implementation
One Alliance for Sony and Discovery, etc. The cable operators
feared that implementing CAS would make them incur loses, as plan for CAS on the
set up of a set-top box (required for CAS) is a costly affair. The
Government had to mellow its implementation plan for CAS owing
account of
to constant resistance. Only 25% of work has been done to date. constant
resistance.
GOURAB KUNDU THE INDIAN TELEVISION INDUSTRY PAGE 6
 4. The Way to Tread
Inspite of the various problems encountered in the
implementation of CAS (Conditional Access System), CAS is Conditional
perhaps the best solution for the Indian Television Industry when access System
it comes to home connections via cable operators. The reasons
for the same are: [6] (CAS) is the way
Consumers get the option to choose the channels they want to
pay for and view, rather than receiving the whole set of channels for the future.
that the cable operator makes available to them, and hence This mode will be
benefit by having to pay only for what they want to watch.
Broadcasters have a long-standing complaint that the Cable beneficial for all
Operators under-declare the actual number of subscribers, and
hence pass on only a fraction of the paid subscriptions. With CAS
stakeholders of
it is possible to address the exact number of subscribers. the Indian
Cable Operators get the opportunity to pay a part of the
subscription fees to the broadcasters only for the actual number Television
of end users who opt for the channel, rather than all households
having cable access.
Industry.
Advertisers get a far more accurate indicator of programme
popularity with only the actual subscribers of each channel being Premium Pay Channels
accounted for through CAS. (PRE CAS C&S)
Government ensures a fair degree of transparency in accounting.
Popular Pay Channels
The first major implication of CAS in the market place will be in (POP CAS C&S)
further fragmenting the television viewing segments. Post the
satellite television revolution (‟91), the entire collection of
television viewers was divided into two segments [1] - Cable &
Satellite Television homes (C&S) and Only Terrestrial television Free to Air Channels
homes. As CAS is being implemented, we will see the further (FTA CAS)
breaking up of C&S homes into three new segments:
FTACAS C&S Able to watch only Free-to-Air Satellite TV
Market Structure for the
channels.
POPCAS C&S Able to watch Free-to-Air & „Popular‟ Pay Satellite Implementation of CAS
TV channels.
PRECAS C&S Able to watch Free-to-Air, „Popular‟ & „Premium‟ IPTV, Mobile TV,
Pay Satellite TV channels. and DTH are also
Other modes for expansion of the Indian Television Industry gaining
would be to foray into the IPTV (Internet Protocol Television),
Mobile TV and DTH (Direct to Home). DTH has already become
popularity as
popular in India with Tata Sky, Dish TV, Reliance Big TV, Bharti alternatives to
Airtel Digital TV, Sun Direct, being the present DTH Service
providers. [1] cable operators.

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 5. Zip-up
The recession came and had its ill-effects. The Indian Television Due to a very
Industry was hit alright, but the effects were not that detrimental.
Due to a very strong and loyal audience base that this industry strong and loyal
enjoys, the core competence of the industry was never lost. The
Indian Television Industry used to and it continues to entertain
audience base
people. In fact, the recession phenomenon has to a certain extent that this
helped the industry by giving it a necessary mop, wherein all the
non-content driven functionalities were driven out of the market industry enjoys,
space. A case in point would be two General Entertainment the core
Channels Colors (Viacom 18) and 9X (INX Media). Both these Hindi
GECs were launched within a span of eight months. 9X came competence of
earlier. Both the channels had quite similar marketing strategies in
terms of using cricket matches as the premiere medium to
the industry was
advertise the channels pre-launch. A year or so has passed since. never lost during
While Colors has moved on to become the number one Hindi GEC,
9X has been crippled by a huge financial crunch hence, is on the recession.
verge of closure, and isn‟t airing any fresh content. The
differentiator between the channels is “content” that was aired.
This only reiterates the fact that “Content is the King”.
With the audience only increasing, the advertisers had no choice
but to aggressively campaign their products on television. A
prominent rise of 23% in advertisements on television during Jan-
Jun 2009 substantiates the above.

Amidst the worst fears of slowdown, the Indian economy continues

to perform pretty strongly and one of the key sectors that benefits
from this fast economic growth of 6.7% is the Entertainment and
Media industry. This is because this industry is a cyclical industry
that grows faster when the economy is expanding. It also grows
faster than the nominal GDP during all phases of economic activity
due to its income elasticity wherein when incomes rise, more
resources get spent on leisure and entertainment and less on
necessities. Further, consumption spending itself is increasing due
to rising disposable incomes on account of sustained growth in
income levels, and this also builds the case for a consolidated
growth in the sector. The size of E&M in India is currently
estimated at INR 353 billion and is expected to grow at a
compounded annual growth rate of 19 percent over the next five
On television,
years. [4] The television industry continues to dominate the E&M
industry by garnering a share of over 42 percent, which is expected
Content is the
to increase by a further 9 percent to reach about 51 percent. The
Indian Television Industry has only brighter avenues in front of it.
King!

GOURAB KUNDU THE INDIAN TELEVISION INDUSTRY PAGE 8

 Information Sources
Indiantelevision.com
Your one stop source for every thing related to television.
[1] The Third Indian Television Revolution CAS & its impact in Indian Market Place
By L V Krishnan 23 April 2003

[2] Television censorship, is anyone keeping a watch?

By Aparna Joshi & Hetal Adesara
4 November 2003

[3] A snapshot of Indian television History by Indian Television.com

By the Editorial Board, Indiantelevision.com July 2003

[4] The Indian Entertainment and Media Industry Unraveling the potential
Sources used herein are that of Industry estimates & PwC analysis
FICCI and Price Waterhouse Coopers

[5] Ambika Soni reiterates commitment to keep media free of censorship

By Sruthijith KK
Reuters India

[6] Wikipedia.org/Indian Television

[7] Ibef.org: India Brand Equity Foundation

Media and Entertainment

[8] India’s media and entertainment industry grew 17% to reach Rs 50,000 cr in 2007
FICCI in news
Mint, March 17, 2008

[9] Data from TAM, IRS and ADEX

[10] Changing Trends of Television Viewership

TAM Media Research Archives
TAM Peoplemeter

All pictures used herein are original and not resourced from the Internet
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